We all should know, as believers in Jesus that “It really doesn’t matter what you know, but who you know.” But does He know you?
Matthew 7: 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
From this passage, we discover that doing the “works” or miracles of God can be grievously overrated, but knowing the Lord on a personal level cannot. This is where the organized church can go painfully wrong.
John 6: 28 They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
29 Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”
It’s about your relationship with Jesus
If the relationship of the seminary student and his/her God is not the foremost priority of an educational organization, (Christian school), then they will more than likely produce “workers” who are driven more by numbers, doing works and acts of service than learning how to become “true disciples”. If these workers, at the core, do not learn how to be a disciple themselves, how can they (or why would they) teach others to do the same? And if these students, who will be the next generation of Christian leaders are not going to be making disciples, who will?
1 Corinthians 13: 1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
Therefore, I think the “true disciples” are those that truly know God and His son, Jesus Christ. They are disciples based on love, not based on works. As the passage above makes this point clear: Works, in and of themselves, do not count for anything.
He is after the friendship. That is His greatest desire.
His friends will do His works out of their love for Him and have great joy in doing so. This passage reinforces and gives clarity to the first:
John 15: 1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
The “others”, those that might be mistaken as disciples, do works out of obligation.
John 14: 15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
This is why the “organized”, or should I say secularized church, has a rancid odor to so many because it is simply not bearing good fruit.
Beware of the leaven of modern-day teachers!
Matthew 7: 15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
My friends, I love the body of Christ. I cherish my brothers and sisters who love God and are fighting alongside me. But I have some major, foundational concerns with what the organized church has established today. I see pastors caring more about their church activities than promoting their congregation to pursue God in daily devotion with Bible reading, prayer, and fellowship. It is these fundamentals that will make a healthy church that will bear good fruit. A church like this will not diminish, but be alive and growing.
Matthew 28: 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Does it get any clearer than this?
The great excitement I receive from this knowledge is that it puts everyone on a level playing field and any can grow in Christ and pursue Him just as much as any other. Going to seminary or a Christian School does not necessarily get you any closer to God than what you can do without the schooling. If you seek God with all your heart, He will use you wherever you’re at and this will not require a degree of any kind.
Will you be His disciple?
“Dear God, have mercy on us. We’ve messed up as a church in so many ways and we need your help to know how to follow you even closer. Please open our hearts and encourage each of us to examine our own motives and plans. Thank you for your Word and how it convicts each of us, keeping us on your path. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Have you seen my testimony?
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